William r



No. 6l0,940. Patented Sept. 20, 189B.

W. R.`ELL|S.

CAR DOOR.

(Application filed Sept. 2, 1897.)

(N0 Model.:A l

6,2 (f3- Willi/11111011111111111151 @fa/@W 1.2] com?? 3W liliviTnn STATns PATENT Crimen.

VILLIAM R. ELLIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF IO JAMES L. MALLORY, OF SAME PLACE.

`CAR-boon.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 610,940, dated September 20, 1898.

Application iiled September 2, 1897'. Serial N0. 650.325. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom'z't may con/cern: i

Be it known that LWILLIAM R.ELLIs,a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain ne'w and useful Improvement in Car-Doors, which is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the upper portion of a car and car-door constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig. l. Fig. lis a horizontal section on the line 4L 4 of Fig.

My invention relates to car-doors such as are used upon freight-cars, and has for its object to provide a construction which shall render such doors less liable to displacement on the one hand and to binding or other impedimenton the other hand in their movement back and forth across the door-aperture.

My invention further relates to such a construction for car-doors as shall provide an extremely simple and easily-"manufactured form of hangers and track and which shall be so constructed and arranged that the track shall cooperate with bearing-surfaces on the hanger to keep the door in place and at the same time furnish a complete protection for the upper part of the doorpagainst rain, snow, cinders, and dirt generally.

Referring tothe drawings by letter, A represents the side of the freight-car, provided with an aperture or doorway B; Above the said aperture, upon the outside of the car, I mount ahorizontal track C, comprising an u pward vertical iange C', adapted to be secured by the screws c to the side of the car, a horizontal web C2, provided with a raised track o' on its upper surface, and a downward vertical iange C3 at the opposite side of the web C2 and the iiange C.

The door D may be of any preferred construction. Upon the outside of the said door, near each of its upper corners, is mounted a hanger E. The said hanger comprises a lower plate portion E, adapted to be secured to the body of the door, an outward1y-extending bracket E2, and an upwardly-extending` arm E3, which is integral with the outer side of the said bracket. The bracketwEis provided with an inner and an outer guide-surface e and e', respectively, forming between them a liaring guideway e2, adapted to receive the lower edge of the downward iiange C3, which forms part of the track C aforesaid. In the upper extremity of the arm E3 is mounted a supporting-roller E4, adapted to roll upon the track proper, c', and thus to support the door and permit of its movement. y

Midway between the two hangers I secure upon the upper edge of the door D a casting F, comprising a downward strap F', adapted to be secured to the body of the door, a lower horizontal plate F2, a vertical web F3 on the inner end thereof, and an upper horizontal plate F4, all preferably made integral with the strapF ina singlecasting. In the two horizontal plates F? and F4 and' adapted to revolve freely between them is mounted upon a vertical pivot a roller F5, the periphery of which projects outward beyond the strap F', as particularly illustrated in 3.

From the construction hereinabove described and illustrated in the drawings it will be obvious, in the first place, that the car-door is securelyheldI upon its track and the guide-surfaces e and e prevent the lower end of the door from being'swung outto any considerable extent and entirely obviate displacement'of the door as a whole. At the same time the said surfaces are so curved as to prevent binding of the same with the trackflange in thev ordinary movement of the door.

' It will be further seen that the roller F5 prevents any of the intermediate parts of the door between the two hangers coming in contact with the track-flange by any warping of i the door, such as very commonly takes place.

In case the middle of the door warps outward the roller F5 bears against the flange C3 `and the movement of the door is not impeded. Thus the flange C5, having under no circumstances any bearing against the door, except at the curved guidesurfaces e and e', and the roller F5, has no opportunity to bind and prevent easy movement of the door back and forth. At the same time, as before stated, the said fiange in cooperation with the guidesurfaces prevents the swinging outward of IOO the lower edge of the door and holds the supporting-roller E4 in proper position upon its raised track c. Furthermore,it will be readily seen that the construction I em ploy, in which the track extends completely over the top of the door and the i'lange C3 projects downward 0n its outer side and below the top, completely covers the top of the door in all positions, whether open or closed, and absolutely prevents snow or rain from getting at the top of the door to cause it to swell or decay, and prevents the accumulation of any dirt thereon so as to interfere with the working of it. It thus results that the iiange O3 has a double function of serving as a bearing to lkeep the door in a proper position and to protect the top of the said door-a valuable improvement, which is, so far as I am aware, original with me.

It will be apparent that some changes may be made in the details of the construction shown without departing from the principle of my invention. Thus two or more rollers F5 may be employed instead of the one shown, &c.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a car, the door D; the hangers E adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the outer side of the door, and provided with guide-surfaces, and with an arm E3 carrying a contact-surface for supporting the weight of the door; and a track C, in section consisting of a single piece, secured to the car, extending completely over the door, and provided with a downwardly-extending iiange in proximity to the guide-surfaces and below the top of the door, said track serving as a support for the contact-surface and as a protecting-covering for the top of the door, substantially as described.

2. In a car, the door D; the hangers E adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the outer side of the door, and with an arm E3 carrying a contact-surface for supporting the weight of the door, said contact-surface being substantially over the center of the door; and a track C, substantially Z-shaped in section, secured to the car by one flange, and having the connecting-web extending completely over'the door and serving as a support for the aforesaid contact-surface, and having the other iiange extending downwardly below the surface of the top of the door, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a car, the door D; the hangers E adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the outer side of the door, and provided with guide-surfaces, and with an arm E3 carrying the roller E4 for supporting the weight ot' the door; and the track C, in section consisting of a single piece and substantially Z- shaped, secured to the car, its central web extending completely over the door, and serving as a track for the roller E4, and one of its flanges extending downward in proximity to the guide-surfaces and below the top of the door, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. In a car, the door D the hangers E adapted to be secured to the upperportion of the outer side of the door, and provided with arms E3 carrying a contact-surface for supporting the weight of the door; and track C secured to the car and having a central web extending completely over the door and forming a support for the aforesaid contactsurface, and provided with a flange C3 extending downwardly below the top of the door on the outer side thereof; and one or more rollers F5 mounted on the upper ledge of the door and adapted to bear against the inside of the flange C3, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In a car, the door D; the hangers E adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the outer side of the door, and provided with the guide-surfaces e and e', the surface e beingconvex, and with an arm E3 carrying a contact-surface for supporting the weight of the door; and a track C, in section consisting of a single piece, secured to the car, its central web C2 extending completely over the door and serving as a support for the contact-surface, and provided with a ilange C3 extending downwardly between the guidesurt'aces e and e and below the top of the door, substantially as and for the purposes described.

6. In a car, the door D 5 the hangers E adapted to be secured to the upper portion of the door, and provid ed with guide-surfaces, and with an arm E3 carrying the roller E4 for supporting the weight of the door; a track O substantially Z-shaped in cross-section secured to the door, with its central web extending completely over the door and serving as the support for the rollers E4, and having a flange C3 extending downward in proximity to the guide-surfaces and below the top of the door; and one or more rollers F5 mounted upon the upper edge of the door adapted to bear against the inside of the flange C3, substantially as and 4for the purpose described.

VILLIAM R. ELLIS.

Vitnesses:

ALLAN A. MURRAY, F. E. BROM.

IOO 

